10/23 — This is the ninth in a series of Radar entries on the 16 games of the Jets' 1968 Super Bowl III season:    

Sunday, Nov. 10, 1968    

Shea Stadium, New York (60,242)

Jim Turner kicked four field goals and Bill Mathis scored twice on short runs as New York beat Houston a second time and virtually clinched the Eastern crown. The Jets’ fourth straight victory tied a club record and also marked the sixth straight game in which Joe Namath failed to complete a touchdown pass.

Game Trivia

■ Mathis enjoyed the sixth two-touchdown game of his 10-season career, all spent with the Titans and Jets. He'd get his seventh and last two-TD game two weeks later at San Diego.

■ Turner hit four of five field goal tries a week after going 6-for-8 vs. Buffalo. With four more FGs the next week at Oakland, Turner hit 14 FGs, the most in a three-game span in franchise history.

■ Oilers starting QB Don Trull completed eight of 25 for 74 yards and three INTs. Add in three sacks for minus-27 yards and the 47 net passing yards was a season low for a Jets opponent.

Quote Now

Public relations director Frank Ramos: “It really was a big game because Houston was the team that we were competing with to win the AFL East. They came in that day to Shea Stadium and it was raining, it was cold, it was 40 degrees and the winds were 17 miles an hour with gusts over 25 miles an hour. But we came out throwing in the game and jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and then we switched to the ground game and Boozer and Snell took us right down the field and we got up 10-0 and then got an interception and went up 13-0."

Quote Then

Head coach Weeb Ewbank on Jets' spread formation: “We call it a 'Houston' formation because we put in for this game. But it’s just an old spread formation. We used it here in 1963.”